As my son has not been playing with the trains much lately, we took the layout off of the dining room table & put the trains back in the attic. We’ll take them back out again in a few weeks, though Luke asked me today to set up a Carpet Central in his room.
After I put away the trains, I took out the old Tyco HO trains at Luke’s request. And I also took out my Rivarossi Mikado, which needed some parts replaced & did the work (the parts have been sitting around here for about a year).
Well, the Tyco set is over 20 years old & the track refuses to stay together. And my old Tyco Silver Streak loco & the cars won’t stay on the rails. And the Rivarossi, even after I replaced a bad pair of wheels, jams the front wheel pair (the ones I replaced) pretty quickly if I run it in forward, but runs fine in reverse.
Now I remember why I got back into O gauge last year. Yeah, I’ve got a few cars that are problematic, but in general, everything is so much more reliable.
Now, I’m sure that if I took the time to nail the HO track to a board, solder the joints on the curves, and cleaned the track, and maybe even ballast the track, that my HO experience would be better. But the Rivarossi has me bummed.
I can get H0 to run fine but I simply don’t like the size of H0. I think when 0 gaugers profess their inability to get H0 trains to run, it makes us seem incompetant. I run 0 gauge trains that are made for a child, not out of necessity, but by choice.
I believe I can get the HO trains to run OK, if I took the time to fix the track to a board & soldered the tracks. I even said that in my original post. My observations had more to do with the frustrations of the track & the running equipment. Plus I believe that the track I have is just too old & should be replaced.
Tony:
I still have my dad’s FleishmanHO Locos and some rolling stock, but they are relegated to being shelf queens. Once in a while I do take one of the locos down from the shelf and look it over. At one time I did buy some track and gave it a run, but somehow it looks too small and just doesn’t feel well in my hand. I’m glad I stuck with 0-gauge.
I have Tyco GP CB&Q figure 8/trestle freight set. It operates better than some of my AHM. All purchased circa 1970-72. However, I basically agree with you. It’s no fun operating them as they are much to maintenance intensive, not to mention, tiny.
3-rail is much more forgiving in just about every aspect. I still recall the thrill of “rediscovering” 3 rails about 4 years ago.
I can’t think of too many 20-30 year old HO pieces that are as reliable a Lionel of the same vintage. However the current stuff is nearly as reliable as O if you consider using modular track like Atlas True Track. Standard HO track was always meant to be secured to a panel.
The Rivirossi equipment is also much improved. I run the latest release of an SP Cab Forward on 22" radius True track every Christmas for hours on end with no problems.
Pete
I found an old HO Diesel that was rusted inside out. I think its a post war, not certain though. The guts are pretty much all brass. I am an O fan but I run some HOs as well.
I took it a part and hit all the parts with WD40 and a scotch brite. It runs like brand new. There is some stain from the rust but it runs like mint. I still think Os are more reliable but my HOs are pretty reliable.
I’ve got an old sheet of 3/4" plywood in my shed that I had cut into 2’ x 4’ pieces some years ago. It’s been in the shed for some years now. I forget what I intended to do with the sheet, but maybe I’ll get some HO track & build a “modular” layout out of the pieces. Give us something else to run while waiting for the addition to go up.
At least that way, the track won’t move & the HO equipment will have a better chance of staying on the rails…
I think that O or HO is not the problem, run our train is the more important thing., and together to be conected to our real dreamer world. If we have problem with its wheel or track it was our choise. fix quick evedry thing and run…run
(sorry for my english)